Transmission and reception of audio is a mainstay of human communication. For example, telephone, CB radio, FM/AM radio, and voice mail are typical implementations that provide auditory communication. While the telephone and the CB radio enable bi-directional communication, FM/AM radio and voice mail typically provide unidirectional communication. Unidirectional communication provides a means to convey instructions, information, alerts, and/or situational awareness from an audio source to a listener.
Situational awareness may provide an understanding of current or past events that may require present or future actions. For example, monitoring air traffic control, stock exchange broker conferences, mission control communications, or police, fire, and EMS dispatch voice communications provide an awareness. Typical situational awareness communications may convey routine activity or situations. However, by maintaining an awareness, unusual or critical situations may become apparent, and more information about the events that lead to the situation may be known by a listener much earlier.
Systems that provide situational awareness are typically dedicated networks. In other words, dedicated networks are constructed for the sole purpose of conveying a particular type of information. For example, police, fire, and EMS dispatch voice communications may have dedicated network(s) to route incoming information to an appropriate agency in a timely fashion. Air traffic control and stock exchange broker conferences may restrict the number of listeners due to concerns about security, privacy, subscription fees, and/or cost.
Adding listeners to a communication system may be desirable; however, the addition of listeners may involve extending the dedicated network(s). The ability to extend the dedicated network(s) may be limited due to a distance between an audio source and a listener, security/privacy concerns, and/or cost.